1862.] Order Chelonia. 367 



Order Chelonia. — By S. R. Tickkll, Esq. 



Maulmein, March 8th, 1862. 

 To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta. 

 Dear Sir,— I. have the pleasure to send to the museum of the 

 Society a specimen, as well prepared as circumstances permitted, of a 

 rare and little described species of Turtle, of which I beg to annex 

 the following description, which may perhaps be considered worthy of 

 publication in the Journal of the Society. 



Your's obediently, 



S. R. TlCKELL. 



Family. Thalassidse. 



Genus. Sphargis (Merrem). 



Synonyms. Corinda (Fleming). 



Dermatochelys (Blainville). 



Species. Corhicea ? (Auctorum). 



" The Trunk Turtle" (apud Bell). 



The specimen herewith forwarded to the Society is a female. She 

 was captured, February 1st, 1862, near the mouth of the Ye river (in 

 the Tenasserim Provinces), on the sandy beach of which she had 



since Baber's time, must be prodigious. The wild Elephant is now confined to 

 the forests under Hemala, and to the Glials of Malabar. A wild Elephant near 

 Karrah (Currali), Mani'kpur, or Kalpi, is a thing, at the present day, totally 

 unknown. May not their familiar existence, in these countries, down to Baber's 

 days, be considered as rather hostile to the accounts given of the superabundant 

 population of Hindustan in remote times?" — I have now reliable information of 

 the unexpected fact of a two-horned Rhinoceros having been killed in Asaui ! 

 where it is undoubtedly exceedingly rare. I was told this by a friend, whose 

 informant (when in the province) had seen the two horns attached to the 

 skin; but I cannot at present obtain further details. — As regards the 

 reported existence of a one-horned Rhinoceros in Africa {vide p. 153 anted), 

 Dr. Livingstone incidentally remarks — and I cite the whole passage because 

 of its interest — that " Sportsmen have still some work before them in the way 

 of discovering the fauna of Africa. This country abounds in game; and 

 beyond Berotse, the herds of large animals surpass anything 1 ever saw 

 [elsewhere], Eilands and Buflalos, their tameness wa3 shocking to dm : 81 

 Buffalos defiled slowly before our fire one evening, and Lions were impudent 

 enough to roar at us. On the south of the Choba, where Bushmen abound, they 

 are very seldom heard ; these brave fellows teach them better manners. My 

 boatmen informed me that lie had seen an animal, with long wide-spreading 

 horns like an Ox, called Liombikalela ; also another animal, which does not live 

 in the water, but snorts like a Hippopotamus, and is like that animal in size — 

 it has a horn, and may he a one-homed Rhinoceros. And we parsed some holes 

 of a third animal, which burrows from the river inland, has short horns, and 

 feeds only by night. I did not notice the burrows at the time of passing, but I 

 give you the report as I got it. Sable Antelopes abound, and so does the 

 Nakong ; and there is a pretty little Antelope on the Sesheki, called Teeanyane, 

 which seemed new to me. These animals did not lie in my line, so you must be 

 content with this brief notice." (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 Vol. XXIV, 700 ) A horned burrowing animal is not very likely to exist. 



